Nov, 12.
Three days more and the British Concession at Chinkiang, which dates from 1861, will have ceased to exist. On Friday it is to be formally returned to the Chinese Government. There is sentiment investing all old institutions which brings natural regret for the change. Although Chinkiang has never shown any signs of fulfilling Sir Robert Hart's prophecy that it would tone day eclipse Shanghai, the old community of the Concession, which was just big enough to support a Masonic Lodge and a very comfortable club, was thoroughly happy family, But for several years past the port has been languishing, The railway took away much' of its business, The neglect and silting of the Grand Canal, not 80 Jong ago described by a harbour official as "nothing but an evil smelling drain," helped in its decay. And the Yangtze seems to have taken a positive dislike to the town, In Marco Polo's days Golden Hill was on the other side of the river; and much more recently the Concession and railway station were actually in its bed. In March, 1927, after the Nanking outrage, the Concession was sacked by Nationalist soldiers, who did a great deal of damage. Shortly after the formal settlement of Nov.
Like everything else, the annual reports of the North Maachurian Plage Prevention Bureau vary in interest, but always deserve attention, Inevitably, they call the mind back to thal alarming winter of 1910-11, when for, we think, the first time pneumonic plague thrust itself upon the world's notice as perhaps the deadliest menace that had ever been imagined. The lity was frightful. Whole were wiped out in a few One heard of victims of the plague dropping dead in the streets of Harbin, and lying where they dropped; and in the shops and offices people went to their business with cloths bound around their mouths to keep out infection. The alarm spread far and wide, and even on the other side of Hongkong Far Eastern residents returning from Europe were anxiously consulted by newcomers as to whether it would be safe to land in Shanghai. Then came the researches of Dr, Wu Lien-teh, and his dis covery that this particular form of plague was brought from Mongolia, where it began among the tarabagan or marmots, which are regularly hunted for the skins, In due course, the North Manchurian Plague Bureau was founded by Dr. Wu, and has con tinued its valuable work ever since with excellent results.
This year's report, which we reproduce on another page, bears witness to the growing efficiency of the Bureau, For the first time, we think, it can be reported that northern Manchuria has been. free from plague for the whole period under review. South Manchuria, that "incident," at the beginning of, September last year, the flag was hoisted again over the Consulate by Mr. R. Montgomery, British Vice-Consul. But early in this year Chinkiang was put under the charge of the Consu!~ General in Nanking. It was well own that the return of the Concession was merely a matter of months Sentiment apart, there was nut much to be said for the Concession and its return to China is acquiesced in readily enough by the business men most concerr~ ed, by some of them actually approved, The arrangements detailed in the correspondence between Sir Miles Lampson and Dr. C. T. Wang appear satis factory. Perpetual Chinese title deeds are exchanged for the old Crown leases; and, until a new Jand tax has been framed applicable to the whole country, and applied to Chinkiang, this contribution will be paid at the present rate, It is to be hoped that compensation for the damage done, details of which be published shortly, has been allowed on a generous scaly, both as proof of the sincerity of Nanking's regret for an unpardonable outbreak, and because the losses suffered by property: owners in the Concession were very large. One other ma' may be mentioned. We are told that there are a number of people "squatting" on land, outside the Concession but which belongs to foreigners. It would be an agreeable gesture on Nat-King's part and a solid token of "the sincere appreciation of the mal Government. of this andy action on the part of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom," stressed by Dr. Wang, if the squatters could
"they -acquirg ancient manor removed elsewhere hetero rights. was less fortunate. in the late summer of 1928, and this year the Tungliao area has been attacked, with 104 cases distributed among twenty villages, In South Manchuria the plague was not pneumonic but bubonic. Its virulence, however, was most severe, deaths occurring in ninety per cent, of those who fell sick. The report issues a special word of warning in respect of these two outbreaks. The country in question is fertile; it is attracting a large number "of emigrants from famine districts of Northwest China; while the increasing railway development offers easy avenues by which infection may be carried to other regions. this connection good work should be done by the Central Epidemic Intelligence Agency, the formation of which the report scribes. This organization al, of course, not only with plague but with all forms of infectious diseases. One may express a hope that it will pay special attention to scarlet fever. The introduction of this terrible scourge into the Far East is a matter of comparatively recent time, and, like all new diseases transplanted to a virgin soil, its destructiveness has been appalling. Latterly, we believe, at least in the Shanghai district, its severity has a little abated, ut it none the less remains one of the sicknesses most feared by doctors, and every means should be sought by which it may possibly be restricted and by which sufferers may be kept. from infecting others.
Too often in China there is cause to bewail the things left undone. There is, therefore, the greater pleasure in dwelling upon' good work wherever it appears. Undoubtedly. the doctors" and' all the staff of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.